In the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits where, for example, individual semiconductor chips are diced from a semiconductor wafer, it has been one practice to bond these chips to a continuous lead frame having many frame segments therein and then separate each chip and corresponding lead frame segment from the. continuous frame for further subsequent reliability testing. One type of continuous flexible lead frame member which is particularly useful in practicing the present invention and which is well known in the art is referred to as a TAB bond circuit. The acronym "TAB" refers to tape automated bond and is described in many prior art references including U.S. Pats. 4,007,479, 4,195,195, 4,390,598 and 4,459,607.
The above reliability testing of integrated circuits will typically include the mounting of a certain number of the separated chips and supporting lead frame segments on a burn-in card and then inserting the burn-in card in a test oven. Here the individual IC chips are electrically connected to test circuitry for cycling the chips with a predetermined sequence of electrical signals. These signals are applied to certain nodes of these chips for a predetermined time and at a certain required elevated oven temperature.
The above electrical connection requires high tolerance fixturing using skilled labor and also requires a relatively large area of oven space for burn-in. This burn-in preparation and testing of these IC chips has been known to contribute to the final manufacturing cost per integrated circuit chip by about $2.00.